Midnight Madness at TIFF is always a lot of fun, and some great genre films get scheduled that are designed to deliver to the late-night audience. Sleep hopes to do that this week. A Korean entry to the film festival from writer/director Jason Yu. It’s his first feature film, and Yu creates a tense, moody…
Tag: stress
Family Ties (1983) – Speed Trap, Sweet Lorraine, and Batter Up
Alex (Micheal J. Fox) is under a lot of stress with exams and scholarship applications and turns to amphetamines in Speed Trap. Written by Micheal J. Weithorn, this episode was first broadcast on 9 November, 1983. Alex approaches Mallory (Justine Bateman) about reaching out to one of her friends who has a prescription for them…
The Equalizer (1989) – Lullaby of Darkness, and 17 Zebra
McCall (Edward Woodward) tries to saves the lives of a young girl, Mindy (Ellen Latzen) and her mother, Rebecca (mary-Joan Negro) from her abusive father, Joseph (Stephen Lang!) and her own imagination in Lullaby of Darkness. The episode was written by Coleman Luck and originally aired on 30 March, 1989. McCall is contacted by one…
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999) – Stephen King
Alright, Mr. King. You got me again. I didn’t realize how much stress and worry I was carrying around for little Trisha in this book until I reached the last page and shed my silent tears. Damn, this one reeled me in. Steering away from his the horror storytelling he’s best known for, though over…
Ashgrove (2022) – Jeremy LaLonde
Haunting and elegant. There’s a heartrending beauty in the character of Jennifer who is brought to life by Amanda Brugel in Jeremy LaLonde’s latest film, Ashgrove. Set against a backdrop of a global pandemic that threatens extinction, an intimate character drama plays out that could change everything. There is a thread running through LaLonde’s films,…
Star Trek: Discovery – The Way to the Stars (2019) – Una McCormack
When I read her Picard novel, Last Best Hope, I was completely taken in by McCormack’s writing, with her Discovery novel, The Way to the Stars, she has cemented herself as my favorite Trek author working today. Available through the Gallery Books imprint of Simon & Schuster, Star Trek doles out literary adventures, with both…
M*A*S*H (1978) – Dr. Winchester and Mr. Hyde, Major Topper, and Commander Pierce
Dr. Winchester and Mr. Hyde is the ‘drugs are bad’ episode of M*A*S*H. Written by Ronny Graham, Ken Levine and David Isaacs, it first debuted on 27 February, 1978. The 4077th in the midst of an onslaught of patients, and everyone is doing there best to just survive, get through, and give their patients the…
M*A*S*H (1978) – Mail Call Three, Temporary Duty, and Potter’s Retirement
Everett Greenbaum and James Fritzell delivered Mail Call Three, which aired on 6 February, 1978. After a long delayed delivery of mail, a number of problems arrive with the envelopes. Hawkeye (Alan Alda) has been receiving love letters meant for another Benjamin Pierce, which he reads with lustful joy. B.J. (Mike Farrell) learns that a…
TIFF 2021: The Guilty dir. Antoine Fuqua
Jake Gyllenhaal leaves it all on the screen when he steps into the role of Joe for Antoine Fuqua’s North American remake of the Danish thriller. On screen for almost all of the film’s hour and a half runtime, we are trapped with Joe as he serves as a 911 operator while his performance in…
M*A*S*H (1973) – The Sniper, Carry On, Hawkeye, and The Incubator
Teri Garr makes an appearance as a nurse in the first episode up this week, The Sniper. Written by Richard Powell this story first aired on 17 November, 1973, and was the first American show to feature a bit of male nudity, as Radar’s (Gary Burghoff) butt can be glimpsed as he makes a dash…
The Mind Reels 